In documents, Giants kicker Josh Brown admitted abusing ‘slave’ wife
The NFL was criticized in August for suspending Giants kicker Josh Brown just one game for spousal abuse, while at the same time doling out a harsh 10-game suspension for the Eagles' Lane Johnson for ingesting a banned peptide.
Just released police documents shed light on just how badly the NFL's Roger Goodell might have punted in his suspension of Brown - even though he upheld the suspension for Johnson that's currently underway.
The league's new domestic abuse policy has a clause allowing for "consideration given to possible mitigating or aggravating circumstances." NFL officials said in a statement at the time that both Molly Brown, the kicker's ex-wife, and police officials refused to cooperate with NFL's investigation, leaving them to punish him for the single arrest for domestic violence in May 2015.
But the new documents, first obtained by SNY television after they were released by the Kings County, Wash., Sheriff's Office, indicate Brown's history of domestic violence was more than the single "moment" he admitted to. In journals and emails turned over to police by his ex-wife, Brown admitted to repeatedly abusing her "physically, verbally and emotionally."
Brown admits to being molested when he was around age six, and says from that point on he made the "selfish" decision to use and abuse women.
"Because I never handled these underlying issues I became an abuser and hurt [my wife] physically, emotionally and verbally," Brown wrote in one document. "I viewed myself as God basically and she was my slave."
In another document, dated more than two years before his arrest for domestic violence in 2015, Brown listed eight ways he abused his former wife, including "I have controlled her by making her feel less human than me, and manipulated her with money" and "I have disregarded my stepsons' feelings and they have witnessed me abusing their mother."
The NFL issued a statement Thursday afternoon it has reopened the investigation of Brown based on the documents revealed Wednesday night:
Brown was arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence, but a few days later the state declined to file charges, despite a recommendation from the Kings County Sheriff's Office to charge Brown with two counts of fourth-degree domestic violence and assault.
The Giants announced late Thursday afternoon that Brown would not travel with the team to London for its game Sunday against the Rams.
During the summer, Giants co-owner John Mara publicly supported Brown "as a man, a father, and a player," and said the team was comfortable re-signing him during the offseason to a two-year, $4 million deal.
"Based on the facts and circumstances that we were aware of at that time, we were comfortable with our decision to re-sign him," Mara said in a press conference at the time. "Nothing that has happened in the meantime to make us question that decision."
The Eagles will face the Giants in East Rutherford, N.J., in Week 9 - without Johnson as a key offensive lineman.